If you’re a fan of the classic Lion comic character Robot Archie – one of IPC/ Fleetway’s international success stories – then you may be interested in a little cache of covers for the French comic, Archie le Robot, which are being offered on eBay by French comic seller Fantasmak.
On offer are several originated covers for the long-running Archie le Robot digest title published by Jeunesse et Vacances, which ran for 54 issues, from April 1968 to July 1981.
While Robot Archie was the main strip of this quarterly title, several other strips, featured in support, including “Tri Man” and a number of western strips.
Published quarterly, the title ran to some 164 pages for the first 17 issues, reducing to 132 pages from No. 18 to 48 and 100 pages until the end. Some of the stories, reformatted from the original British stories, previously featured in another long running title, Atoll, also published by Jeunesse et Vacances, between 1967 and 1981, but some were new to the French market.
There are no cover credits for Archie le Robot, but sources such as Bedetheque suggest they are the work of Italian artist Vladimiro Missaglia (14th May 1933 – 8th June 2008), who worked together with his brother and scriptwriter Ennio Missaglia (1930-1993) for most of his career on a wide variety of strips.
Based in Paris, run by Gérard Thomassian, who has written a number of works on bande dessinée, Fantasmak has been trading on eBay since 2002, and offers a wide range of “pocket digest” comics, as well as movie posters, records, fanzines, comics and artwork.The ebay shop is updated several times a week.
Here are the covers on offer, and the corresponding covers as published
• Check out the original “Robot Archie” art on offer here on the Fantasmak eBay sit (eBay UK link)
• Fantasmak is also online at fantasmak.com. They host the BDoubliees (“Forgotten BD”) database at bdoubliees.com
Do note that if you live in the UK and you’re considering buying these artworks, they may incur customs duties on top of the sale price, due to Britain’s departure from the European Union.
• Check out the original “Robot Archie” art on offer here on the Fantasmak eBay sit (eBay UK link)
• Fantasmak is also online at fantasmak.com. They host the BDoubliees (“Forgotten BD”) database at bdoubliees.com
Robot Archie: French Publishing History
• Astrotomic Viso Fiction: 47 monthly issues published by les éditions Mondiales de Del Duca, from December 1958 to October 1962. Only 38 issues contain “Robot Archie” stories
• Bedetheque guide to Astrotomic
• Fuller guide here to Astrotomic
• Atoll: 121 monthly issues published from March 1967 to November 1981 Only the first 76 issues contain “Robot Archie” stories
Fantasmak also has Atoll covers for sale
• Archie (aka Archie le Robot): 54 quarterly issues from April 1968 to July 1981.
• Bedetheque guide to Archie le Robot
• ComicBD: Séries Archie le Robot
Originally built by Professor C.R. Ritchie, the mechanical being known as Robot Archie was employed to battle injustices around the world, particularly in the jungles of Africa and South America.
The automated action hero has worked with the Professor to create’The Castle’ – a fully-functioning time machine! Together with the Professor’s nephew, Ted Ritchie and his best friend Ken Dale, Archie is ready to embark on a journey through time that will bring him into conflicts with medieval knights and a terrifying, dystopian future where aliens have conquered the Earth!
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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